NATAS Welcomes Daytime Fans To New Blog Page

The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) would like to welcome fans and fanatics to a new blog designed to update, educate and celebrate every thing Daytime TV. This blog will be dedicated to the remarkable NATAS history and the influence and contributions that daytime programming has had on American culture over the years.

Daytime TV has offered some of the most memorable moments in TV history, from the first successful American TV Soap Opera, “Search for Tomorrow” (debuting in 1951) and “As The World Turns,” which became the first soap to go to COLOR (1967), to the record breaking viewership of Luke and Laura’s wedding on “General Hospital” in 1996 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzU2UYtGKMA). Other landmark moments include Katie Couric’s live colonoscopy, Ellen’s outing on Oprah, and, of course, Susan Lucci’s EMMY win after 19 nominations. Daytime has been the first to notify the American public of historic moments including Disney’s Mickey Mouse Club’s record breaking 800,000 fan letters, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first Presidential address in 1939, the first moon landing of the Apollo 11 mission in 1969 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMINSD7MmT4), and, of course the day that Walter Cronkite broke the news of JFK’s assassination during a broadcast of “As The World Turns” (http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/jfk-assassination-cronkite-informs-a-shocked-nation/)

Traditionally, NATAS and the prestigious daytime EMMYs have represented any and all television productions airing between the hours of 2:00am and 6:00pm, as well as those programs that air between 6pm and 8pm that are eligible for the Daytime contest due to a special waiver. Daytime categories governing writing, direction, drama, talent, music, children’s programing, animation, talk and game shows, news and documentary, sports programming, technology, and significant regional news that has existed since the Daytime EMMY inception in 1973(4), as well as categories, including morning shows, culinary, and, most recently, legal/courtroom shows. In addition, NATAS recently added new Spanish Language categories.

In the beginning, a category defined as “Outstanding Achievement in Daytime Programming” was added for a one time only presentation in 1968. Due to voting rules of the time, judges could opt to either award one or decide whether no one nominated was deserving of the golden statuette. This snub outraged the Daytime community and led to the first separate awards show made just for daytime programming, which was broadcast in 1974 from the Channel Gardens at Rockefeller Center in New York, with hosts Barbara Walters and Peter Marshall. Originally aired during the daytime hours, they moved to nighttime in 1991. The debate over whether it should return to daytime has raged on since.

NATAS invites you to share views and memories, as well as participate in conversations that involve Daytimes past, present and promising future.